Notes.
THE GROANING-BOARD, A STORY OF THE DAYS OF CHARLES II.
The English public has ever been distinguished by an enormous amount of gullibility.
"Ha ha, ha ha! this world doth pass
Most merrily I'll be sworn;
For many an honest Indian ass
Goes for an unicorn."
So sung old Thomas Weelkes in the year 1608, and so echo we in the year 1853! What with "spirit-rapping," "table-moving," "Chelsea ghosts," "Aztec children," &c., we shall soon, if we go on at the same rate, get the reputation of being past all cure.
In looking over, the other day, a volume in the Museum, marked MS. Sloane 958., I noticed the following hand-bill pasted on the first page: